Lease addendum rconendations

[Jessica Pattie]

Does anyone have any unusual policies/ conditions they have started including in their rental agreement addendums? I'm in the process of renting my first SFR and want to make sure I cover as many potential issues as I can (esp for a newbie). Any advise is appreciated!

[Account Closed]

Oh, I thought of something I would add to a lease, knowing what I know now.  And that is to require tenants to have renters insurance, specifically with a loss-of-use rider.

The reason is because when a tenant must be displaced due to flooded floors or whatever, they will look to their landlord to pay for their hotel room - even though the landlord would only be responsible for giving them a rent credit for those days (which won't be enough to pay for their hotel room).

This is the biggest hassle regarding tenants who don't have insurance - or the right kind of insurance.  That loss of use rider is not standard in renter's insurance.  It's super cheap, but it's usually an additional rider to a standard policy.  

I only had to remove tenants twice for repairs, and both times they didn't have insurance (not required, but suggested and explained in the lease and verbally by me when they signed the contract).  

Both times, I had to deal with tenants freaking out because of the cost of being displaced or their stuff having been ruined.  You really don't want to be trying to explain that that's what renter's insurance is for, while they are in hysterics.

So, I'd not only require renter's insurance, but I'd require they also get loss of use coverage.